Hello, my
name is José Manuel Ruiz, Cholo for friend. I fell in love
with fishing thanks to my father when he introduced me to the
sport when I was about 8 years old. I was born in Madrid in
1958 and for the past twenty years I have lived in León, Spain.
I have
always felt privileged to be able to pursue my interest in
fishing and hunting. I have had the best teachers and I also
feel privileged that I have an understanding and supportive
wife who gives me enough freedom to go to the river whenever I
need to. I get excited and enthusiastic at the thought of a
fight with a big fish on light line, but I am convinced that
the most beautiful thing in fly-fishing is the art of
presenting the fly in front of the fish, the cast and, of
course, the making of the fly itself. I am fully convinced
that we must promote catch and return, especially among
children.
I come
from several generations of fishermen and craftsmen. I have
always been involved in crafts and so one day my wife,
Maribel, and I started to make flies for a living. I
discovered, when working at my vice, a new technique to make a
whole range of flies with a foam base which is then dressed in
lacquers and resins, producing incredible results. I have
also invented other techniques, such as fish imitations which
are actually weighted flies with a small blade to create a
flickering movement, and also the “sply” (spinner-fly) - a
lure which spins on itself at great speed mimicking the
flashing movement of a traditional spinner. Another innovation
are flies tied in different sizes of Tiemco hooks from size 16
for nymph imitations to small fish on larger sizes, etc. Also
I use felt for a wide range of nymphs, streamers and wet flies,
and these have proved to be very effective and long-lasting.
These flies incorporate reflective material making them
exceptionally visible.
I
believe with these techniques any number of flies can be made
over the years, and our dream is that we might share these
techniques through DVDs or books when the time comes.
Although
today I only fish with a fly, in the past I have fished with
all sorts of bait and spinners – Rapalas, spoons, jelly-baits
- and love all methods of fishing. One day I will probably end
up collecting these lures too. For this very reason I have
really enjoyed the web page made by my friend Hans. It gives
me great pleasure to be able to see flies from all over the
world on the one site. I would like to say thanks to Hans for
creating a site that is so interesting and informative. As you
can see from our website
www.moscasorbigo.com, there is only one thing we enjoy
collecting more than flies, and that is making friends.
